Coastal Studies Symposium Fund

Description of fund: This program was made possible through the generous gift of Geoffrey C. Rusack '78 and Alison Wrigley Rusack. The symposia brought interdisciplinary and/or comparative understanding to questions, issues and concerns relating to coastal peoples, cultures and environments. The wide spectrum of distinguished speakers represented different disciplines and geographic areas from outside Bowdoin that together promoted awareness, visibility, and discussion of timely coastal topics and issues.

Coastal Studies Symposia

The State of Marine Ecology in Maine (Biology Spring 2008, $4,500) 

Building on the success of the 2006 symposia, this symposium brings together leading researchers in marine ecology from across the northeast to present and discuss current research within their area of specialty.  Additionally, this symposia aims to increase awareness of student involvement in research in the Gulf of Maine.

A Watery World: Venice Past, Present and Future (Anthropology Fall 2006)

The State of Marine Ecology in Maine (Biology Spring 2006)

Insularity and Integration: Recent Trends in Caribbean Scholarship (Latin American Studies Fall 2004)

Inventing the Seaside (Sociology and Anthropology Spring 2004)

The sea and its shores are often envisioned as existing outside of culture and history, as the limit case of "wild nature". This symposium challenges this common-sense notion by bringing together scholars who offer "histories" of the sea by discussing different ways in which the oceans and its margins have been imagined and conceptualized.  

Women on Water (Women and Gender Studies Spring 2004)

Bowdoin College's unique location on the Maine coast provides us with a range of opportunities to examine, experience, and celebrate. This series explores the way women, as workers and as artists/activists, relate to the Maine coast.  

Coastal Communities and Climate Change in the North Atlantic (Arctic Studies and Environmental Studies, Spring 2002)

Archaeology of Coastlines (Sociology and Anthropology, Fall 2002)